Kamino
=Kamino= *Appeared in: IIIIIIIVVVICW *Climate: Constant storms *Terrain: Ocean world * From the Movies Purged from the otherwise complete Jedi Archives is all evidence of the mysterious world of Kamino. A lonely world beyond the Outer Rim and just south of the Rishi Maze, few could have predicted that Kamino would become a key contributor to a massive shift in political power in the waning days of the Republic.Kamino is a planet of tumultuous oceans and endless storms. Few features mark its surface, save for massive stilt-mounted cities wherein reside the planet's natural inhabitants, the Kaminoans. From Tipoca City, the planet's Prime Minister rules. Lama Su closely monitored the operations of Kamino's most prized export: clones. Though few are privy to such knowledge, the Kaminoans are reputed to be the best cloners in the galaxy. The Grand Army of the Republic, used during the Clone War, was hatched, grown and trained at the facilities on Kamino. To supply the army with armor and transport, the Kaminoans partnered with the neighboring Rothana system to develop advanced combat machinery. From the Expanded Universe Kamino has never recovered from the global warming that melted huge shelves of inland continental ice. Its oceans swelled, covering the landmasses, forcing the native Kaminoans to adapt. Their stilt cities echo their former land colonies, but are built to withstand the ceaseless storms that buffet the world.Though the Kaminoans turned to genetic sciences to counteract the hardships of the planet's environmental chaos, they are not self-sufficient. They trade their advanced cloning knowledge in exchange for vital raw materials. The Kaminoan partnership with the Galactic Republic to provide its Grand Army suddenly thrust the rain-veiled world into a more public spotlight than it ever had experienced before. It became the subject of early Separatists attacks during the Clone Wars, with Mon Calamari Commander Merai leading a joint space and surface attack on the planet. Intelligence gathered by Quinlan Vos tipped the Republic to this impending strike, and they were able to scramble a mission of Jedi protectors to defend this crucial world. As the Clone Wars progressed, Republic cloning operations began to spread elsewhere. The vaunted Kaminoan obsession for introverted secrecy was irreparably compromised as their proprietary techniques were soon being carried out and built upon by Republic cloners. Entire hatcheries were transplanted offworld, and Kamino began to lose what little leverage it had over the Republic. The planet was again the target of violence, as the fervent Mandalorian Protectors rained destruction upon a number of Kaminoan cities in a Separatist-backed Battle Legionnaire droid army attack that left the cloners reeling. The emergent Empire nonetheless kept a strong presence on Kamino -- at the very least to keep the planet's valuable technology from falling into the wrong hands. Some Kaminoans, holding the Empire solely responsible for the Kamino's woes, began surreptitiously cultivating a liberation army of Kamino-loyal clones who would oppose the Empire. The resultant clone uprising, which occurred about a decade into the Empire's rule, was put down by the elite 501st Legion of stormtroopers. The master of this Legion, Darth Vader, hired a special mercenary to lead the troopers in battle: Boba Fett, a product of the Kaminoan hatcheries. Behind the Scenes Known informally as the "water planet" or the "storm planet" during production, Kamino represented a startling new environment for the Star Wars saga. Industrial Light & Magic's innovations in creating computer-generated water allowed the exterior shots of Kamino to become a reality. The structures themselves were miniatures composited into a churning CGI sea. The Kaminoan environments form a stark contrast to the other army-builders seen in the film -- the dingy industrial furnaces of the Geonosian droid foundry. Whereas Geonosis was a dangerous, dark and foreboding place inhabited by skittish and unpredictable insect-folk, Kamino was a sterile, clean and painstakingly organized environment with gentle and graceful inhabitants.